Half a croissant, on a plate, with a sign in front of it saying '50c'
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Bird-Booster Prairie Pleasures

avian-activated elevator
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After a morning run and a shower, I eased myself into the prototype’s cushioned chair. I’d jogged two kilometers out to its narrowed aluminum end to place some seeds on the small platform before jogging back. I bought the flat, prairie ranch a year ago and then spent ten months erecting the fulcrum, beams and superstructure of the massive seesaw.

Sitting comfortably a meter from the balance point, I leaned to the right to see past the suspension tower and cables and view the bird feeder through a telescope. Spying no activity, I relaxed a while with a newspaper and cup of coffee before feeling the thrill of suddenly being lifted into the air. After once being thrown out of my chair by a landing Canada goose, I’d since then always used a seatbelt.

Eagerly checking the eyepiece, I was pleased to see a tiny snow bunting enjoying the seeds at the other end while holding me suspended above the ground. I later spent an hour in the afternoon enjoying the shudders of levered, falling leaves and the bucking jolts of a magnified, distant hail storm.

FarmerJohn, Dec 31 2004

beam on a fulcrum http://www.speakerfactory.net/wind.htm
Sure it wasn't this? [mensmaximus, Dec 31 2004]

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       You'd need the Hubble space telescope to see a snow bunting 2 km away. I'd rather install a web cam or something. Anyway, when the bird takes off, won't you drop to the ground like a rock? Ouch!
phundug, Dec 31 2004
  

       You kids stay off the tweeter twatter.   

       [phund] A spring under my cushioned chair is in order.   

       [mens] I'm sure, but it reminds me of the hb props-on-power-cables wind generation scheme.   

       [El D] It’s a teeter-totter with uneven sides. I sit on one end one meter from the fulcrum. A 40 gram bird lands on the other end 2 km away and lifts me.
FarmerJohn, Dec 31 2004
  

       While you could be lifted by the 40g bird, it would have to move the its end of the beam through 500m to lift you a mere 25cm (Assuming a 2km beam and my dodgy trigonometry)
zen_tom, Dec 31 2004
  

       I know and to think that I started out planning a sparrow 5K out.
FarmerJohn, Dec 31 2004
  
      
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